Vandals Target Gay Weekly 'Xtra Vancouver'

Fourteen distribution boxes for the gay
weekly Xtra Vancouver have been damaged by vandals in the past
week, the Vancouver Sun reported.

Police are investigating the incidents
as a possible hate crime.

The vandals smashed the glass in the
front door of the boxes – damaging the clips that hold the paper –
and stole the latest issues, causing about $3,000 worth of damage.
Only boxes distributing the gay paper were damaged.

The downtown Vancouver incidents
occurred between December 25 and December 29.

“We're treating this as a possible
hate crime [although] that's not confirmed at this point,”
Constable Jana McGuinness told the paper. “We can't rule it out.
The motive is still unclear but when no other paper boxes next to
these ones were damaged we have to think there are some anger issues
here.”

Xtra Vancouver is owed by Pink Triangle
Press, which also produces Xtra Toronto and Xtra Ottawa.

“For us it's not even mainly about
the damage,” Gareth Kirby, regional manager of Pink Triangle Press,
said. “On something like this they're not targeting the paper;
they're targeting gay people.”